The Woodsman's Deception
by P. A. Foreman
Summary: A short twist on the "Little Red Riding Hood" tale.


**A story I wrote a long time ago to practice writing with no "to be" verbs, dialogue aside. **

Once upon a time, Little Red Riding Hood snuck out of her tiny, stone cottage to see the wolf. The snow on the forest floor made it seem like millions of diamonds lay embedded in the ground. Her breath hovered in a cloud beside her face. Winter threatened to make Little Red shiver, but it could not penetrate her red cloak. The village called Beth, "Little Red Riding Hood," because of her small stature and cloak. Beth despised that name; it made her sound like a little girl instead of a sixteen year old. However, the name stuck until Beth could do nothing about it.

"Little Red, there you are," the wolf grumbled softly from the shadows of tall pines. Beth jumped, startled.

"Oh! Waya, you scared me!" Beth exclaimed. She walked down to the spot where her wolf stood. His muzzle, caked with dried blood seemed fearsome, but it did not frighten Beth, who knew her wolf only hunted animals. Beth wrapped her arms around the great, gray wolf's neck, her fingers searching for the warm down past the coarse outside fur.

"I'll become human in five days," the wolf said. "Then, we can be together." A witch cursed the wolf, a human boy in the past, to ten years as a wolf.

"I wish it were sooner Waya," Beth wished. "My parents are trying to marry me off to a woodsman."

"I won't allow it," Waya growled.

* * *

The woodsman watched Beth and Waya from behind a tree, soaking in every word exchanged between the two. The mongrel will not marry Beth, for she belonged to the woodsman and he devised a plan.

"In five days Beth will go to her grandmother's house. I will start my plan then," the woodsman whispered to himself. The woodsman disappeared into the snow-covered night, leaving the wolf and Little Red to enjoy their last moments together.

* * *

"Little Red, take this basket to your grandmother," Beth's mother told her. Beth took the basket from her mother's hands.

"Very well. Off I go." Beth opened the door to the stone cottage and set foot on the path to her grandmother's house.

"Beth, today is the day we can be together," the wolf reminded her. "All we have to do is wait until noon."

"Yes!" Beth said happily while digging in the basket. She pulled out a piece of bread and gave it to her wolf. "As a pre-celebration!" Waya rubbed his muzzle against Beth's hand as if to say he loved her. Beth smiled and turned back to the path, her red cloak blowing in the winter wind.

* * *

The woodsman emerged from his hiding place and approached the wolf once Little Red seemed out of sight. The wolf detected his presence and growled.

"What do you want?" the wolf snarled. The woodsman backed up, slightly afraid.

"Calm down, today I am your friend. I give up Beth and I give her to you. All that I ask is that you please save her," the woodsman pleaded.

"Why does she need saving?" the wolf asked.

"The witch that turned you into a wolf is disguised as her grandmother. She'll try to turn Beth into a wolf as well. The only way to kill her is to consume the witch completely," the woodsman informed. The wolf's eyes widened.

"Thank you for letting me know, I'll go to her right now." The wolf raced down the path to save Little Red. He did not know that the grandmother still remains a grandmother, not a witch. Now, the woodsman created a reason to kill the wolf.

* * *

"Grandmother, I brought you lunch," Beth crooned and handed her the basket.

"Why thank you!" Grandmother replied from her bed. Just as she opened the basket, the door crashed open.

"You will be silenced witch!" the wolf roared. Beth shrieked and her wolf pounced on her grandmother, opening his mouth to swallow the grandmother whole.

"Waya! No!" Beth screamed.

"You'll thank me for it! Your grandmother is disguised as a witch!" Waya responded.

"What? No! She's not a witch!" Beth informed the wolf. "And you just ate my grandmother! Begone! Begone!" The door crashed open again.

"Don't worry Beth! I'll kill the wretched mongrel!" the woodsman announced, axe in hand.

"You told me the grandmother was a witch!" the wolf accused. Before the wolf could say anything else, the woodsman plunged his axe into the wolf's stomach. The grandmother tumbled out, but the wolf transformed into a sixteen year old boy with sandy-blonde hair and blue eyes. Beth walked over to the dying boy.

"Waya," her voice cracked. "What happened?"

"It's noon," Waya panted. "At least you got to see me as a human." The boy's eyes went dim and the wolf Beth once loved passed away.

"You!" Beth screamed at the woodsman. "You deceived him!"

"I did, and now you are mine!" the woodsman cackled.

"I will never be yours!" and Little Red disappeared into the forest, never to be seen again. Some people from the village tell stories about a wolf running in the woods with a red cloak, a phantom of a great, gray wolf running beside her.


End file.
